Defeat for Pimlico school campaigners

Parents and teachers campaigning against Pimlico School becoming an academy have lost an appeal in the High Court.

Judge Kenneth Parker said that the campaigners' arguments were " misconceived not only in principle but also in substance" adding that a further appeal had "no prospect of success".

Last month the Pimlico School Association's application for a judicial review was rejected and it was appealing against the decision.

Westminster City Council said today that its attempts have cost the taxpayer £100,000 in legal aid and fees.

Tory donor and venture capitalist John Nash has offered to sponsor the academy but the association says it is wrong that the school - famous for its Sixties concrete and glass "brutalist" buildings and its liberal ethos - should become "the plaything of rich business people and their political friends". Mr Nash said he was "delighted with the High Court's decision" and stressed he was ready to continue talks with the campaigners.

The school's original buildings are now being demolished and replaced at a cost of £34 million under the Government's Building Schools for the Future programme.

The school, which was failed last year by education watchdog Ofsted, is due to reopen as an academy in September.

In a statement, the Pimlico School Association said: "Given John Nash's longstanding connections with the Conservative Party... there is a conflict of interest involved."

"Pupils, parents and staff at Pimlico School deserve better than to be made the playthings of rich business people."